First Paying Job

[Isaac-1]

I had plenty of non-paying jobs growing up on the family cattle ranch as a teenager, but my first paying job was working for the family food distribution business the summer after I started college. I spent part of that summer working on the warehouse loading crew, 45 minute drive each way from home, 4 days per week, 12-13 hour shift starting between 1-3 am depending on day of the week. The first 3-4 hours each day consist of loading our outbound delivery trucks, going in and out of the freezers which were kept at -5 F often while drenched in sweat as even at night temperatures in the warehouse were often over 90 F, often staying in the freezers for 10-15 minutes at a time. The rest of the day was less hectic, as it involved breaks, and more steady work unloading inbound 18 wheeler trucks. I can still almost hear the snap, crackle sound of sweat drenched hair freezing while working in the freezer.

[LMHS]

First paying job? I was 8yo and I worked on a family friend's farm "suckering" tomatoes. I removed the secondary shoots that grew between the main branch and a major side branch. This does two things, makes the tomatoes larger and makes it easier to harvest. I did that for two summers. Got paid $3.00 per hour in 1968 & 1969. I have never suckered any tomato plant in any of my home gardens. My next paying job was at 15yo when I started working at McDonald's. I don't eat at McDonald's.

[arcaguy]

First paying job was delivering the "Shopping News" a free advertising paper in Detroit. The next job was delivering the Detroit News 7 days a week. It was an afternoon paper so I didn't have to get up a the crack of dawn like if you delivered the Detroit Free Press. Sunday was a morning paper but in the summer my dad would help me and we would go fishing afterwards. After I turned 16 I got a job at McDonalds. Great group of guys and later girls. Best times of my life, I had a free place to live, free food and more money than I could spend. I've never had that since.

[ArtJoyce]

I shoveled snow, cut grass when I was very young. When I was 12 I got a job on Saturday deliver milk as a jump boy. Jump off the truck with the milk and put it on the porch of milk chute. I keep that job until I was 15, but did two paper routes the morning and evening newspapers. I work as a busboy. At 16 I got a job at McDonnell paying minimum wage $1.00/hour. Some time later Uncle Sam gave me a 25% pay increase when they increased the minimum wage to $1.25.

[Bigd9]

Originally Posted by ArtJoyce

I shoveled snow, cut grass when I was very young. When I was 12 I got a job on Saturday deliver milk as a jump boy. Jump off the truck with the milk and put it on the porch of milk chute. I keep that job until I was 15, but did two paper routes the morning and evening newspapers. I work as a busboy. At 16 I got a job at McDonnell paying minimum wage $1.00/hour. Some time later Uncle Sam gave me a 25% pay increase when they increased the minimum wage to $1.25.

I had to Google "Milk Chute". I remember one of those now, but I always thought it was for mail! Our milkman would leave the full bottles on the porch near the door.

Thanks for the memory.

[Old-Biscuit]

Originally Posted by Bigd9

I had to Google "Milk Chute". I remember one of those now, but I always thought it was for mail! Our milkman would leave the full bottles on the porch near the door.

Thanks for the memory.

We had an insulated tin box on porch ...held 2 bottles of milk
Glass bottles.

[Mot W]

1st paying job was oil mopping grocery store floors after closing. Big step up to $0.35/hr after $0.05 ea, picking up soda bottles for refunds the carpenters dropped all around. Bought full bottles & resold them to carpenters @ lunch time. My 1st business enterprise.

[NeilV]

Did maintenance in a supermarket and made $2.75 an hour when gas was 25 cents a gallon so one hour wages got you 11 gallons of gasoline. At almost $5 a gallon here you would have to earn $55 an hour washing floors and bagging groceries today.

[saddlesore]

Originally Posted by Cinequip

Our small town movie theatre needed a projectionist to cover for the main guy who was going on vacation. I got two days training, then was on my own. 1940's carbon arc projectors in poor running condition. I was paid $20 cash out of the till for running projectors Friday, Saturday & Sunday. When I got home after my final show Sunday night, my dad was up and asked "How'd it go?" I said "terrible, I'll NEVER do that again." Famous last words. Spent my whole career in the theatre business!

Sounds like the Granada or the Westgate in The Dalles, ORE.

[John Jackson]

My first paying job when I was 13 was delivering the TV guide. It sold for15 cents a copy; had to deliver it and my commission was 4 cents for each copy delivered. My dad had to write the check for the profit, but he gave me the entire 15 cents for each copy. I didn't have a huge customer base.

What I REALLY remember is that our paper boy, a couple years later, bought a 1960 Buick from his savings over the years. Brought it to our neighborhood to show it off. I was in aww...and it gave me the ambition to work hard to get what I wanted.

Still wondering what he accomplished later in life; had to be great.

[Abner Mality]

Started out with neighborhood jobs (mowing lawns, pulling weeds, washing cars, babysitting) when I was 10. When I turned 13 in '77 went to work in a small hospital as an orderly for $2.63/hr - first real paycheck!
Did that for a couple of years until regulations changed (you had to take classes and be certified, I was in jr. High so busy with school and couldn't do the cert) and they moved me to working in the kitchen. Learned a lot in both those jobs that I still use today.

[BPTS]

A summer bussing tables and filling water glasses at a local Mexican Restaurant netted me enough to buy my first REAL BMX bike and my speed skates (roller) at the age of 12.

My first real 40hr a week job was the best job I ever had, if I could go back I would have never left it.
I worked for the US Forest Service via the Young Adult Conservation Corps for 4 years. It was only supposed to be a 1 year job program but I had perfect attendance so they extended my hitch every year.
16, 17, 18 & 20 years old running through the forests of Colorado with a chain saw and axe. I was assigned as a Sawyer with a TSI (Timber Stand Improvement) crew. We did some beetle kill mitigation but mostly went into overgrown areas and cleared out growth the foresters designated. Did a bit of fire work as well.
Hard work but very rewarding.
At the end of the 4 years I was sent a slew of letters from the Forest Service for permanent full time positions that were open.
They wanted me.
Alas I was a stupid 20 year old that thought I knew better.
I wuz dumb.

[rosebud1218]

Love these first job stories!

My first W2 job: Dish Washer subsequently promoted to Carbonic Engineer (Soda Jerk) at the Liggett-Rexall on the corner of Berkley & Boylston Streets in Boston. Had to get working papers via Boston School Department as I was under 16 years of age. Not allowed to work more than 20 hours a week - worked summer weekdays, after school, weekends and holidays. Soda Jerks used to have banana split and ice cream sundae competitions. Customers appreciated, not so much management.

[PhilAndTee]

My Grandfather had a cherry orchard. I believe I was around 13. Me and my brothers picked cherries. Not sure how much we were paid, but it wasn't much. And at the end of the season, we pooled our money together and bought an Atari 2600. We then sit around for a very long time playing pac-man.